Ebs Pricing Calculator
An EBS volume looks cheap per gigabyte until provisioned IOPS, throughput and snapshots stack up on the same bill. This calculator prices an Amazon Elastic Block Store configuration the way AWS builds the charge: pick a volume type, enter size, IOPS, throughput, volume count and snapshot storage, choose a region and billing period, and get an itemized estimate in seconds. No AWS account, no signup, no spreadsheet.
Quick Answer
One 500 GB gp3 volume in US East with 6,000 provisioned IOPS and 500 MB/s of throughput costs $70.00 per month: $40.00 of storage, $15.00 for the 3,000 IOPS above the free baseline, and $15.00 for the 375 MB/s above the free 125 MB/s. The same storage on gp2 costs $50.00 flat, and on io2 with the same IOPS it costs $452.50, which is why gp3 is the default answer for most workloads.
Key takeaways
- gp3 storage at $0.08 per GB-month is 20% cheaper than gp2, and its 3,000 IOPS and 125 MB/s baselines are free. Extra performance is where gp3 bills grow.
- io1 and io2 charge for every provisioned IOPS from the first one. At moderate IOPS counts that line, not storage, dominates the bill.
- Regional prices here are multipliers on US East rates (1.00 to 1.20), so treat non-US-East totals as planning estimates, not rate-card quotes.
- Stopped instances do not stop EBS charges. Volumes bill until you delete them, attached or not.
- Quick Answer
- How to use this EBS pricing calculator
- How an EBS bill is built, line by line
- Worked example: pricing a 500 GB gp3 database volume
- The US East rate card this calculator uses
- gp3, gp2 or io2 for the same workload?
- What this estimate leaves out
- What competing EBS calculators miss
- Five ways to cut an EBS bill
- Frequently asked questions
- Add This Calculator to Your Website
- References
How to use this EBS pricing calculator
Enter the configuration you are planning, then click Calculate Pricing. Results stay hidden until you do, so you can change one input at a time and watch which line moves.
- Volume type: gp3 for most workloads, io2 or io1 for databases that need high provisioned IOPS, st1 for big sequential data, sc1 for cold data you rarely touch.
- Storage size: the provisioned size of one volume in GB. You pay for provisioned size even if the volume is half empty.
- IOPS and throughput: shown for the types that bill them. On gp3, only IOPS above 3,000 and throughput above 125 MB/s are charged.
- Volumes and snapshots: enter how many identical volumes you run, plus your combined snapshot storage in GB.
- Region and period: pick the closest region option and read the total monthly, yearly or daily. For the compute side of the same instance, pair this with the AWS EC2 cost calculator.
How an EBS bill is built, line by line
An EBS bill has up to four lines per volume, and this calculator follows the same build-up AWS documents in its official EBS pricing examples. Storage always applies. IOPS applies to gp3 (above the free baseline), io1 and io2. Throughput applies to gp3 only. Snapshots are priced separately on stored gigabytes.
gp3 IOPS cost = Max(0, IOPS − 3,000) × $0.005 × Multiplier × Volumes
io1 IOPS cost = IOPS × $0.065 × Multiplier × Volumes
io2 IOPS cost = (first 32,000 IOPS × $0.065 + IOPS 32,001 to 64,000 × $0.046 + IOPS above 64,000 × $0.032) × Multiplier × Volumes
gp3 throughput cost = Max(0, MB/s − 125) × $0.04 × Multiplier × Volumes
Snapshot cost = Snapshot GB × $0.05 × Multiplier
Total = Storage + IOPS + Throughput + Snapshots (yearly = monthly × 12, daily = monthly ÷ 30)
Two properties of this formula surprise people. First, gp3 decouples performance from size: a 100 GB and a 4,000 GB gp3 volume both start at 3,000 free IOPS, where gp2 gives you 3 IOPS per GB, so small gp2 volumes are performance-starved and large ones over-deliver. Second, the snapshot line does not scale with volume count in this tool, because you enter snapshot storage as one combined figure for the whole configuration.
Worked example: pricing a 500 GB gp3 database volume
A small production database needs 500 GB of storage, 6,000 IOPS and 500 MB/s of throughput on one volume in US East, with no snapshot storage counted yet. Entered into the calculator above, it prices like this:
| Line | Monthly | How it is built |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | $40.00 | 500 GB × $0.08 per GB-month |
| Provisioned IOPS | $15.00 | 3,000 billable IOPS × $0.005 (first 3,000 free) |
| Provisioned throughput | $15.00 | 375 billable MB/s × $0.04 (first 125 MB/s free) |
| Snapshots | $0.00 | 0 GB entered |
| Total | $70.00 | $840.00 per year, $2.33 per day on the tool’s period views |
Where the monthly $70.00 goes:
The verdict badge under the total names the largest line, storage at $40.00 here. On io2 configurations it flips to provisioned IOPS almost every time, which is the clearest signal that the workload, not the disk size, is driving the spend.
The US East rate card this calculator uses
Every line starts from US East (N. Virginia) list rates, then the regional multiplier is applied. These are the current AWS rates for the region, checked against the official pricing page in October 2026.
| Volume type | Storage $/GB-month | IOPS $/IOPS-month | Throughput $/MB/s-month |
|---|---|---|---|
| gp3 | 0.08 | 0.005 above 3,000 free | 0.04 above 125 free |
| gp2 | 0.10 | Included | Included |
| io2 | 0.125 | 0.065 to 32,000 IOPS, 0.046 to 64,000, 0.032 above (tiered per volume) | Included |
| io1 | 0.125 | 0.065 | Included |
| st1 | 0.045 | Included | Included |
| sc1 | 0.015 | Included | Included |
Regional multipliers: US East (N. Virginia) 1.00, US West (Oregon) 1.10, Europe (Ireland) 1.15, Asia Pacific (Singapore) 1.20, Asia Pacific (Mumbai) 1.14, other regions 1.15. One row deserves a note: AWS tiers io2 IOPS per volume, $0.065 per IOPS-month for the first 32,000 IOPS, $0.046 from 32,001 to 64,000 IOPS, and $0.032 above 64,000 IOPS on io2 Block Express volumes. This tool applies the same tiers, so at 40,000 IOPS on one volume the IOPS line is $2,448.00 a month, $152.00 less than the $2,600.00 a flat $0.065 rate would give.
gp3, gp2 or io2 for the same workload?
For the worked example workload (500 GB, 6,000 IOPS, 500 MB/s, US East), the three SSD families land in very different places. The AWS gp2 to gp3 migration guidance makes the same point with its own matched-performance examples.
gp3: $70.00/mo
Storage $40.00 plus $15.00 IOPS and $15.00 throughput. Delivers exactly the 6,000 IOPS and 500 MB/s requested, sized independently of the disk.
gp2: $50.00/mo
Storage only, I/O included. Cheaper here, but a 500 GB gp2 volume baselines at 1,500 IOPS (3 per GB), a quarter of the target, with burst credits covering the gap only temporarily.
io2: $452.50/mo
Storage $62.50 plus $390.00 for all 6,000 IOPS. Buys 99.999% durability and headroom to 64,000 IOPS; hard to justify until IOPS needs pass what gp3 can provision.
Cross-checking a shortlist against another cloud is worthwhile before a big commitment: block storage on Azure prices differently, and the Azure storage pricing calculator runs the equivalent managed-disk numbers. For the whole-instance picture rather than storage alone, the AWS cost calculator rolls compute and storage together.
What this estimate leaves out
An honest estimate names its blind spots. Three matter here.
- Per-second billing: AWS meters EBS by the second with a 60-second minimum. This tool models whole months, and its daily view is the monthly figure divided by 30, so short-lived volumes are approximated, not metered.
- Volume ceilings: the calculator field notes use the current gp3 ceilings (80,000 IOPS, 2,000 MB/s, 64 TB) from the Amazon EBS volume type comparison. The calculator does not enforce ceilings in its maths, and gp3 IOPS and throughput rates are flat per unit, so entering values above a ceiling still prices at US East rates rather than being capped.
- Snapshot extras: the archive tier ($0.0125 per GB-month, 90-day minimum, $0.03 per GB retrieval), Fast Snapshot Restore hourly charges and cross-region snapshot copy transfer are not modeled. Neither is data transfer out of EC2, which the AWS data transfer pricing calculator covers separately.
What competing EBS calculators miss
The official AWS Pricing Calculator is exact, but it prices EBS only as one section of a full EC2 estimate, so a quick per-volume answer takes real setup. The third-party tools and guides have sharper problems.
- Wrong gp3 IOPS rate: one free EBS tool’s FAQ prices extra gp3 IOPS at roughly $0.02 per IOPS-month, four times the real $0.005 rate, which quadruples that line on every estimate it produces.
- Wrong gp3 throughput rate: a popular EC2 cost calculator’s explainer puts gp3 throughput at $40.96 per MB/s-month beyond the free tier. AWS charges $0.04 per MB/s-month; the printed figure looks like a monthly total for a maxed-out volume pasted in as a unit rate.
- Stale HDD rates: a widely read volume-type comparison still lists sc1 at $0.025 per GB-month. The current US East rate, and the one in the AWS worked examples, is $0.015.
- Guides with no calculator: several top results explain EBS pricing well but make you do the arithmetic yourself, and none of them show daily and yearly views or a copyable breakdown next to the rate table.
Five ways to cut an EBS bill
Each of these follows directly from the formula above: shrink a line, or stop paying it for storage nobody is using.
- Migrate gp2 to gp3. Same or better baseline performance for 20% less per GB, and AWS supports the switch on live volumes with Elastic Volumes.
- Delete unattached volumes. Terminated instances often leave volumes behind with deletion on termination switched off. They bill at full rate until deleted.
- Right-size provisioned performance. Compare CloudWatch peak IOPS and throughput with what you provisioned. Every 1,000 unneeded gp3 IOPS is $5.00 a month, per volume, forever.
- Put snapshots on a lifecycle. Data Lifecycle Manager can retire old snapshots automatically, and the archive tier cuts stored snapshot cost from $0.05 to $0.0125 per GB-month for copies you rarely restore.
- Snapshot before you shrink. Volumes can grow but not shrink in place; the standard pattern is snapshot, create a smaller volume, and swap. The snapshot is your rollback if the new size is wrong.
Frequently asked questions
It prices each volume from four lines: storage (GB times the volume type rate), provisioned IOPS, provisioned throughput for gp3, and snapshot storage. Each line uses US East (N. Virginia) base rates adjusted by a regional multiplier, the lines are multiplied by the number of volumes where they apply, and the monthly total is converted to a yearly or daily figure if you pick those billing periods.
No. Every gp3 volume includes 3,000 IOPS and 125 MB/s of throughput free. You pay $0.005 per IOPS-month for IOPS provisioned above 3,000 and $0.04 per MB/s-month for throughput above 125 MB/s, at US East rates before the regional multiplier.
AWS publishes separate rate cards per region, and compressing them into one multiplier (1.00 for US East, up to 1.20 for Singapore) keeps the tool simple. The multipliers are planning estimates, not AWS rate cards. For a budget you plan to sign off, check the exact regional rates on the official AWS EBS pricing page.
Up to 32,000 IOPS on a volume, yes. AWS then tiers the rate down to $0.046 per IOPS-month from 32,001 to 64,000 IOPS. This calculator applies the same tiers per volume, including the $0.032 rate above 64,000 IOPS on io2 Block Express volumes: at 40,000 IOPS the IOPS line is $2,448.00 per month (32,000 IOPS at $0.065 plus 8,000 at $0.046).
Yes. EBS charges follow the volume, not the instance. Volumes attached to a stopped instance, and volumes left unattached after an instance is terminated, keep accruing storage charges until you delete them. Snapshot anything you need first, because deletion is permanent.
At the standard tier rate of $0.05 per GB-month, applied to the snapshot storage size you enter and adjusted by the regional multiplier. Real snapshots are incremental, so the stored size is usually smaller than the volume. The archive tier ($0.0125 per GB-month with a 90-day minimum) and Fast Snapshot Restore charges are not modeled.
Storage is always 20% cheaper per GB ($0.08 against $0.10). The gap narrows when you provision a lot of extra IOPS or throughput on gp3, because gp2 includes its I/O in the storage price. AWS migration examples show gp3 saving 8% to 20% at matched performance, so run both types in the calculator for your own numbers.
The monthly cost divided by 30. It is a planning shortcut for short-lived volumes, not how AWS actually bills: AWS meters EBS by the second with a 60-second minimum, so a volume that exists for 12 hours costs roughly half a day at the daily rate shown here.
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References
- Amazon Web Services. EBS Pricing. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Amazon Web Services. Amazon EBS Features: Volume Type Comparison. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Amazon Web Services. Amazon EBS FAQs. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- AWS Prescriptive Guidance. Migrate Amazon EBS Volumes from gp2 to gp3. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Amazon Web Services. Quotas for Amazon EBS. Accessed October 21, 2026.